Listening is bad for your health

Why do I listen to the news?  On Radio 4, on my Internet radio?  Given the horrific nature of the Spanish torrent of corruption which daily emanates from our television screens, the calming voices of the presenters on the Today programme, even though they are talking about the horrors of life in the twenty-first century seem, by comparison, balmy.

          I always remember foreign holidays in the distant past as being a time when, not only was there unaccustomed sun, but also there was a true holiday from the news.  British newspapers were absurdly expensive; smart phones did not exist – indeed mobile phones did not exist – and the idea of phoning home was one fraught with problems and therefore did not happen.  So, for a week or more generally a fortnight there was a dislocation from normal life, a true holiday indeed!

            Of course, on one’s return to normality it was amazing how quickly one got up to speed again and the depression of knowledge settled firmly on the rapidly evaporating holiday euphoria.  But, and it is a big but, I always preferred to know, rather than not.  For me real depression comes from worrying about what I don’t know as I usually find that my imagination is far more apocalyptic than reality – however horrible!

            With some news items I can experience them in a sort of geographical stereo: for example, the failure of emergency departments in British NHS hospitals and the ‘parking’ of patients in corridors is matched by news from our local emergency hospital.  The television pictures look strangely familiar.  And depressing.

            What is worse is watching television pictures of families that cannot afford the mortgage payments being forced out of their homes by the banks who were rescued with OUR money when they were in trouble.  And, to make matters worse, having taken the home, the banks then take action to get the mortgage payments that they are owed.  So the banks sell the house and then demand that the people they have made homeless continue paying for something that the banks have already sold!

            The people are forced out of their homes by a judicial order from a system of justice that has been irremediably politicised by a corrupt government.  The order is enforced by masked police, who have been filmed clearing people with astonishing violence.  Which of course is the reason that this morally bankrupt government has made it an offence to film the police in situations where they are behaving with violence.  Unbelievable , but true.

I have been sent information about a forthcoming set of British stamps which are going to feature British bridges.  There are ten stamps in this set which will be issued in early March.  From the illustrations in the booklet that I have been sent by the Philatelic Bureau they look impressive but I do note that some of bridges have been featured before on British stamps.  Because of the ‘fairness’ of giving each of the countries that make up the United Kingdom a place in each set it is no surprise to see the Menai Suspension Bridge feature again, though another stamp for the Humber Bridge is a surprise.  

          One of the stamps features the Tarr Steps which, in a set of British bridges stamps issued in 1968, was described as Prehistoric, but in the forthcoming set is described as a 15^th or 16^th century gritstone clapper-bridge!  Interesting change!

            With each new set of stamps I wonder about what I will do when the present Teutonic pretender to the so-called throne of Britain finally has the good grace to follow her mother and shuffle off.  I am disinclined to buy anything with Charles or George or whatever he is going to call himself finally ascends – and that goes for any of his offspring too.  I think that my collection of QEII will go up to her funeral, if they decide to mark it by an issue of stamps.  And no further.

            I have to admit that I might weaken.  And given the way that the present holder of the title is clinging on to life, I might have a long time to consider my course of action!

One of the restaurants along the paseo on the beachfront has burnt down.  This is the second time that this has happened to one of these restaurants.  It does make you wonder and if I was an insurance inspector I would be suspicious to put it mildly.  Though obviously, as I know nothing about the circumstances of this conflagration, I am not assuming wrongdoing.  I merely question.

            One of the surviving restaurants is offering a menu del dia for €10.90 and, in the interests of adding another entry to Toni’s blog at  http://catalunyaplacetoeat.blogspot.com.es/

we should obviously try out this place, especially as the restaurant that was previously our favourite on the beachfront at our end of the town has fallen far short of our expectations in recent months.  It has changed hands and the standard has gone down and the prices have shot up.  It is unlikely to feature in Toni’s blog!

I have not yet had the strength to go back to the notes that I made last night towards my next poem.  There is something there, but it is not crystalizing at the moment.  I have the ideas but, at the moment, I have a series of oddly shaped jigsaw pieces and not a coherent picture.   But I have a hammer and the pieces will fit.  Eventually.  When they do you will be able to read the results in

http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es/

And this time I hope that the link is ‘live’ and will get you there in one click.

Meals past, and meals yet to come!

In a shameless attempt to boost page-views in his blog Toni has decided to include a description of a visit to Can Roca from a couple of years ago.  To be fair, it is in Catalonia, in Gerona, but all the other restaurants in his blog are from our town of Castelldefels.  Still, it will be worth it, if only to try and re-live the taste sensation of that night!  

We still talk about some of the extraordinary examples of the culinary art they we were encouraged to experience.  To say we simply ‘ate’ them seems somehow sacrilegious!  I can’t remember now whether it was the first or second ‘best’ restaurant in the world, but I know that I will never forget the meal.  I’m not sure that I could stand eating like that on a regular basis, but as a one-off it was wonderful.  You can (if he has put up the information yet) read Toni’s description and see photos of some of the dishes here: http://catalunyaplacetoeat.blogspot.com.es

And you would make him very happy if you left a comment!

The judicial shambles that Spain calls its system of justice has taken another turn further to the scandalously ridiculous by it being announced that crucial papers in the Barcenas Case have been ‘lost’!  No one believes this.  Everyone believes that it is a shameless governmental stitch-up by the criminals in PP to try and get away with the glaring crimes of theft that they have committed in the kleptocrasy that they have established during their time in power.  PP destroyed the hard drives of the computers in their illegally financed headquarters in Madrid shortly before a police raid to impound them.  They have lied about illegal payments made to members of the government; they have lied about payments made by big firms to the party; they have lied about their opponents; they have lied about police crimes and they have effectively brought the status of ‘politician’ down to a level where a drunken drug addict pimping his daughter would have a higher social standing than any minister in this disgusting government.

            But we are all punch drunk with the enormity and the relentlessness of the evidence of the pusillanimous mendacity of the government which is broadcast daily.  The Barcenas case rumbles on, but no one important (or indeed guilty) has been put in prison.

          I’ve given up counting the number of PP mayors who have been accused or convicted of theft and corruption.  Nothing has been done to the senator who used public money to fly to the Canary Islands to meet his lover and he is brazenly standing as the PP candidate for president of his region!  Bankers walk the streets – that is a metaphor because they wouldn’t dare walk the streets, they would be torn to pieces by the poor that they have created by their greed and the people whose money they have stolen.

            It is easy to feel depressed when thinking about the present situation and, in my darker moments I wonder if there really are enough people revolted by the present unacceptable situation in Spain to turn to the only party that I can see offering anything like a new vision for the country, Podemos.  I hope.

Anyway, enough of that, the sun is shining, we are about to go the ‘Bucket Place’ for lunch (see Toni’s blog tomorrow!) and I am about to make a concerted effort to get the TMA done.  I want it out of the way so that I can concentrate on the EMA which, at the moment is in a bit of a blocked state as none of the pieces of location information have yet come my way.  I do have various plans to cope with the information never appearing, but it would be nice, to say the least if everything was able to come together.

The poems continue, or at least the notes which eventually become poems with any luck continue.  The ‘Tree’ poems which seem to have become something of a speciality of mine, almost replacing the ‘Swimming Pool’ as my major source of inspiration, are waiting to be written – all it takes is turning the pages of my notebook back and getting on with it!  Simply said, not quite so simply done.  But at least the pencils are sharpened, the paper stacked and there is electricity to power the computer, so all systems can be go.

            My poems are found at: http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es 
in draft form, but at least they are there to be edited and that gives me the comfort of presence.

          The guests at the meal in October are beginning to sort themselves out and, although it is the best part of ten months away, I am looking forward to it immensely.  I only hope that ‘Flesh Can Be Bright’ lives up to my expectations.  
I am still looking for a third artist to add the art work to the ‘Autumn Trees’ poems, but, with any luck that is almost in hand.  It will then be a constant process of prodding to make sure that everything gets done in time for publication.  With just me and the printer there is enough worry, but when you add a further five collaborators then worry becomes exponential!  But life-enhancing!

The zest to go on holiday seems to be ebbing away, if zest can ebb, and I am disappointed.  I will try and re-stimulate interest and hope for the best.

Now, the TMA.  But, perhaps a spot of lunch first!

'Norma' in the Liceu

It would be churlish to give any other title to this piece than the above, because nothing else in my day could possibly hold a candle to the extraordinary experience that the opera provided yesterday.

The quality of the piece was established during the overture when the Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu under the baton of Renato Palumbo gave a nuanced and articulate account of the music.  It received a well-deserved ovation at its conclusion and promised well for the opera.  Neither the orchestra nor the chorus directed by Peter Burian disappointed and they provided a polished and professional framework for the singers.

            The opening visual of Norma holding a flaming torch (just how do they get away with having naked flames in theatres?) was dramatic and, as the lighting rose we were given a sight of the set, constructed in wood with giant animal heads on each side of massive iron clad doors.  There was a suggestion of roughness and the primitive and, from the profusion of shields and weapons against the walls and on plinths, of violence.

         The ceremonial entry of what looked like a giant white painted, glitter frosted Christmas tree was a little odd but, at it was hoisted aloft it became clear where the sacred mistletoe was going to be harvested.

            I have to say at the outset that I was impressed by the staging, it worked well was versatile and was visually interesting – but it was, I think, a missed opportunity as it seemed to me to add little to the basic narrative.  It functioned and gave a fairly straight performing space but it didn’t complicate a fairly simple reading of the drama itself.

            This is Norma’s opera, the music gives the singer the opportunity to take the audience and claim them for her own.  This is exactly what Sondra Radvanovsky did.  In her frankly astonishing rendition of ‘Casta Diva’ she had the audience shuddering with disbelief at her ability to sing the high pianissimo notes with a fragility and delicacy which seemed impossible from a singer of such power.  At times her voice filled the theatre and could have filled a theatre a number of times larger, but that merely emphasised her extraordinary control. 

            Radvanovsky seemed genuinely moved by the intensity of the ovation at the end of the opera but, given what she had given and the quality of what she was able to give it seemed only right and proper.

            Her philandering lover, Pollione, was sung by Gregory Kunde who produced a seamlessly smooth vocal range and constantly pleased by his precision.  His performance was superb.  He can’t act and looks like a walking eggcup, but all of that can be overlooked because of his brilliant voice.  To be fair, although the part does have some excellent music, the character he plays is woefully unsympathetic and the sudden realization on his part that he really loves Norma is surely impossible to play with any degree of convincingness.

            There were no unacceptable voices in this production and the duets between Norma and Adalgisa (an unfortunate name which suggests a type of aspirin to me) were scintillating.  Adalgisa, sung by Ekaterina Gubanova was excellent and an fitting musical foil to the extravagance of Norma.

            This was, it must be made clear, a brilliant evening.  It was a privilege to be allowed to hear such amazing music making, even if I have to admit that one hour forty-five minutes until the first break was a bit of a stretch!

            
           My problems with this piece are with the realisation.  This was a clear production by Kevin Newbury, and was interesting to watch, I liked the wood and the white mystical trees and their being cut - but I wanted more.  I don’t really think that this is the sort of opera that has to be anchored firmly to the Gauls and the Romans.  It may be the opportunity to bring on a massive wicker bull at the end for the immolation, but it still kept to the basic story line.

            
           It is a story of oppression and betrayal, of faith and faithlessness, of the brutal contradictions between public and private and so on.  There are moments of true humour, the audience chuckled as the confession of Adalgisa to Norma about her lover brought her nearer and nearer to her innocent revelation that her Roman lover was the father of Norma’s children.  There were moments of black humour throughout and perhaps those should be embraced and be presented as a tragic-comedy. 

            Perhaps less respectful versions of Norma have been done.  In my mind I wondered about using a whole range of settings ranging from modern colonialism, for example in the United States or nineteenth century in Africa; the Mafia and the Roman Church; modern Africa; the Middle East; India and Pakistan; the Far East – I don’t know, but I felt that such a powerful piece of music could have weathered a more radical interpretation.

            
          But, as Radvanovsky took her bow and the gods rained down printed leaflets in adulation, it was perhaps enough to have been there and heard the musical magic that this amazingly talented company were able to provide.

Life goes on, however and I have been dealing with the responses from changing a password and having my iPhone suddenly send out failed messages from months ago to mystified recipients.  They should be, as I certainly am because I am not sure how it happened.  But, there are more things in Apple than worms – as no one has said.

            On the subject of IT, Toni has started the next courses in his studies and, as he can regard the starting and writing of a blog as a valid piece of study related work, we went out to yet another restaurant for a field trip so that he can add another page.

            Our visit, which can be seen at http://catalunyaplacetoeat.blogspot.com.es

And I look forward to many more such excursions.  The meal was truly excellent and the Xató (a Sitges speciality) was the best that I have ever eaten and all at a price that makes you weep when you think of how much you have (if you are me) spent in the UK on crap food!

Of course talking of something which is nowhere near crap, my poems (he said defensively) I am now talking daily about the publication of Flesh Can Be Bright to ensure, by a sort of sympathetic magic, that it actually does happen.  100 signed and numbered copies of this book will exist come hell and high water and, by god, they will be sold even if I have to resort to extreme measures to sell them.  Which I probably will.

            Marketing is going to be an interesting experience and one to which I will turn my mind when the present OU course is over in May and I can turn my mind full time to the niggling production matters that make the writing of the damn thing look easy!

            My new poems, or drafts of them, are available for view, or indeed for comment – though poetry seems to have an exclusion zone around it as far as comments are concerned.  The only ones that I have received have been through the relative anonymity of an email, as there I know what has been said and by whom, but the comment is not available for anyone else!  Ah well, I appreciate comment however it is delivered!  If you care to glance at them they are available here:
     http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es
(Perhaps in my next attempt to add this site, I will actually be able to make it live!)

          The deadline for the essay for the Open University course is getting nearer, but is still not near enough for the requisite quantities of adrenalin to produce the sort of writing required.  Another day or so should see the right level of panic to get me creative!